Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) Short Interest Up 5.6% in June

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,700,000 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the May 31st total of 4,450,000 shares. Approximately 7.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRZE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Braze from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Braze from $58.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Braze from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Braze from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.88.

Braze Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRZE traded up $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.54. The stock had a trading volume of 296,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 947,122. The company has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.83 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.25. Braze has a fifty-two week low of $33.93 and a fifty-two week high of $61.53.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $135.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.56 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 27.85% and a negative net margin of 25.06%. Analysts forecast that Braze will post -1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Myles Kleeger sold 9,177 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.76, for a total transaction of $383,231.52. Following the sale, the insider now owns 221,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,794.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Braze news, CEO William Magnuson sold 17,839 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.76, for a total value of $744,956.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,835,868. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Myles Kleeger sold 9,177 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.76, for a total value of $383,231.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 221,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,794.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,494 shares of company stock valued at $3,446,522 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 24.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Braze

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Braze by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Braze by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 481,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,516,000 after buying an additional 139,416 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Braze in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Braze in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Braze by 375.8% in the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 55,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 44,217 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

About Braze

Braze, Inc operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data.